At airports, passengers usually have to check in and deposit their baggage prior to the boarding procedure. In this process, a label is affixed to the baggage, and the baggage is subsequently deposited and taken away on a conveyor system to a baggage processing area. In the processing area the baggage is sorted on the basis of the label, and more specifically on the basis of flight number and/or baggage characteristics, and is ultimately placed on board of the correct aircraft.
Until recently, the checking in and depositing of baggage was handled by an airline employee or a member of the ground staff. Presently, passengers without hold baggage and with or without carry-on baggage can check in independently and without the assistance of an airline employee or a member of the ground staff, using for instance Common Use Self-Service (CUSS) check-in kiosks. Although such kiosks may also be used by passengers with hold baggage, depositing hold baggage has to be carried out with the assistance of an airline employee or a member of the ground staff. These will furnish the baggage with a label, assess its weight and transportability and ultimately take receipt of that baggage.
The above described known method of checking in and depositing baggage requires the assistance of an airline employee or a member of the ground staff, each of which is manning a check-in desk. The required number of desks at airports is determined by the maximum number of baggage items that are expected to be checked in and deposited simultaneously. The number of check-in desks needed therefore is large whereas most of them are used infrequently and therefore ineffectively. The desks take up a substantial part of the available terminal space, making it difficult to expand (baggage) handling capacity within existing terminals. Furthermore, the need for staffing makes this known method of checking in and depositing baggage a very expensive one. To keep costs under control, the availability of desks and staffing is kept limited, eventually resulting in long passenger waiting queues.
A known system and method for checking passengers and baggage into airline flights is known from US 2004035928, which discloses the use of self-service electronic kiosks and baggage drop systems. A problem of the known baggage drop systems lies in the open nature of the conveyance system. Without the presence of supervision of an airline employee or member of the ground staff, it is impossible to prevent anyone from gaining access to forbidden and/or dangerous sections of the airport through the conveyance system, which is in direct connection with said sections. Especially for children, entering such forbidden and dangerous sections entails considerable hazards.
Closed baggage drop systems were subsequently developed in order to prevent said situations. Such closed systems are disclosed for instance in CA 2186076 and EP 2114767. Important drawback of closed baggage drop systems is that they require substantial alterations to the existing infrastructure present at airports and hence are relatively expensive. Furthermore, closed baggage drop systems are of higher complexity than the open-natured systems and the associated purchase cost is therefore higher. The savings in wages for airline employees or members of ground staff may therefore be outweighed by the high cost of purchase and installation of these closed baggage drop systems.
Other systems have been disclosed, all of which however rely on the attention of an operator or other personnel, and as such are prone to errors.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an open-type baggage drop system and method without the disadvantages and limitations of known open and closed baggage drop solutions.